This is The Loop, your quick catch-up for this morning's news as it happens.
Key events
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By Tom Williams
That's all for The Loop this morning!
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By Bridget Judd
Zimbabwe moves 2,500 wild animals due to climate change
Zimbabwe has begun moving more than 2,500 wild animals from a southern reserve to one in the country’s north to rescue them from drought.
It comes as the ravages of climate change replace poaching as the biggest threat to wildlife.
About 400 elephants, 2,000 impalas, 70 giraffes, 50 buffaloes, 50 wildebeest, 50 zebras, 50 elands, 10 lions and a pack of 10 wild dogs are among the animals being moved from Zimbabwe’s Save Valley Conservancy to three conservancies in the north.
Project Rewild Zambezi is moving the animals to an area in the Zambezi River valley to rebuild the wildlife populations there.
“We are doing this to relieve pressure. For years we have fought poaching and just as we are winning that war, climate change has emerged as the biggest threat to our wildlife,” Tinashe Farawo, spokesman for the Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, told AP.
By Tom Williams
NASA just tweeted the word 'universe', for some reason
It's a mystery that only NASA can answer: Why has the space agency just tweeted a single word, 'universe'?
The organisation is currently providing an update about its next attempt to launch its Artemis 1 rocket to the moon, which will take place this weekend (if conditions allow).
The uncrewed rocket will attempt to blast off from Florida this Saturday, September 3, when a two-hour launch window opens at 2:17pm local time (4:17am AEST Sunday, September 4).
You can tune into the briefing here:
By Bridget Judd
'This is perfection for me': David Beckham under fire over Qatar tourism ad
Human rights campaigners have slammed David Beckham for fronting a glossy publicity campaign praising World Cup host Qatar as "perfection", despite concerns over its human rights record.
The former Manchester United, Real Madrid and England star has appeared in a series of videos posted on Qatar Tourism's website where he samples local art and food and visits a desert camp, exclaiming: "This is perfection for me!"
Amnesty International UK's head of priority campaigns, Felix Jakens, said the ads were "just the latest slick and positive video about Qatar that David Beckham has put his face to".
The London-based rights monitor criticised Beckham for making "no mention of the country's appalling human rights record".
By Tom Williams
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese defends decision to cut COVID isolation period
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has defended the decision to cut the COVID-19 isolation period for asymptomatic Australians from seven days to five, despite concerns from the Australian Medical Association (AMA).
The AMA claims the decision was a political one, and says many doctors are unhappy.
Responding to the concerns on ABC News Breakfast this morning, the PM said people are entitled to their views, but anyone with symptoms shouldn't be going into work.
"The decision that was taken on Wednesday to change the rules, the mandates that are there from next Friday, from September 9, take that into account," he said.
"But if people aren't contagious, they are not sick, they don't have any symptoms after five days and they want to be at work … their employers want them to be at work as well, then to me it is on the balance of where we are at, a necessary change to take place.
"One that was supported by all states and territories, and to which the National Cabinet has come to a uniform position on."
The AMA has called for the health advice National Cabinet used to make the isolation decision to be released, but the PM wouldn't confirm if that would happen.
By Tom Williams
Twitter reveals when it will allow some users to edit their tweets
Twitter says it will soon start allowing some of its user to edit their tweets — a long-awaited but also contentious feature for the social media platform.
The feature will be tested this month, and will let people edit their tweets for up to 30 minutes after they are published.
"Edited Tweets will appear with an icon, timestamp, and label so it's clear to readers that the original Tweet has been modified," Twitter says.
"Tapping the label will take viewers to the Tweet's Edit History, which includes past versions of the Tweet."
The edit feature will first be tested internally by Twitter employees, before being expanded to Twitter Blue subscribers later this month.
It's unclear when it will be available to all Twitter users.
Here's how it will look when a tweet has been edited:
By Bridget Judd
Four-year-old found with loaded handgun at Texas school
A four-year-old child in the United States brought a loaded handgun to school, just days after a similar case in another state, officials say.
The scare on Wednesday in Corpus Christi, Texas came two days after a similar incident in Arizona, that time involving a child aged seven.
In the Texas case, an off-duty police officer working at the school "called in for assistance advising that a four-year-old student was in possession of a loaded handgun on campus", police said in a statement.
The parents of the child were identified as the owners of the gun and the father, aged 30, was arrested and charged with making a firearm accessible to children and abandoning or endangering a child.
By Tom Williams
Education Minister says Liberals should stop 'complaining' about Jobs Summit
Federal Education Minsiter Jason Clare has hit out at the Liberal Party, ahead of day two of the government's Jobs and Skills Summit in Canberra.
It comes after Deputy Liberal Leader Susan Ley said the outcomes of the summit were "predetermined" and that she didn't want to share a room with "union thugs".
Speaking on Channel 7, Mr Clare said the summit has brought together a broad group of attendees and the Liberal Party should stop "complaining".
He also had a go at Ms Ley on Twitter:
By Bridget Judd
UN inspectors arrive at Ukrainian nuclear plant amid fighting
A UN inspection team has entered Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on a mission to safeguard it against catastrophe.
The team reached the site amid fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces that prompted the shutdown of one reactor and underscored the urgency of the task.
The 14-member delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency arrived in a convoy of SUVs and vans after months of negotiations to enable the experts to pass through the front lines and get inside Europe’s biggest nuclear plant.
“The IAEA is now there at the plant and it’s not moving. It’s going to stay there. We’re going to have a continued presence there at the plant with some of my experts,” IAEA director Rafael Grossi, the mission leader, declared after the group got its first look at conditions inside.
But he added: “I will continue to be worried about the plant until we have a situation which is more stable.”
By Tom Williams
Former NYPD officer sentenced to 10 years, in longest January 6 sentence yet
A retired New York Police Department officer has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for attacking the US Capitol building and using a metal flagpole to assault one of the police officers trying to hold off a mob of Donald Trump supporters on January 6, 2021.
Thomas Webster's sentence is the longest so far among roughly 250 people who have been punished for taking part in the Capitol riot.
Webster, a 20-year NYPD veteran, was the first Capitol riot defendant to be tried on an assault charge and the first to present a self-defense argument.
A jury rejected his claim that he was defending himself when he tackled Metropolitan Police Department officer Noah Rathbun and grabbed his gas mask on January 6.
US District Judge Amit Mehta said he didn't think Webster was a bad person, but had got "caught up in a moment".
"But as you know, even getting caught up in a moment has consequences," he said.
Webster said he wished "the horrible events of that day had never happened".
By Bridget Judd
Africa's oldest dinosaur found in Zimbabwe
Scientists in Zimbabwe have discovered the remains of Africa's oldest dinosaur, which roamed the earth around 230 million years ago.
The dinosaur, named Mbiresaurus raathi, was only about one metre tall, with a long tail, and weighed up to 30 kilograms, according to the international team of palaeontologists that made the discovery.
"It ran around on two legs and had a fairly small head," Christopher Griffin, the scientist who unearthed the first bone, told AFP.
The dinosaur belongs to the sauropodomorph species, the same linage that would later include giant long-necked dinosaurs.
How flippin' cool?!
The skeleton was found during two expeditions in 2017 and 2019 by a team of researchers from Zimbabwe, Zambia, and the United States. The team's findings were first published in journal Nature this week.
By Tom Williams
One thing to know: The James Webb Space Telescope has taken its first direct image of a planet outside our solar system
NASA announced this morning that its newest space telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), has captured its first direct image of a planet outside our solar system.
The exoplanet is a gas giant, meaning it has no rocky surface and isn't habitable.
Here's what it looks like:
The planet has the catchy name HIP 65426 b, and is about six to 12 times the mass of Jupiter (which is pretty darn big).
NASA says it's young as far planets go — about 15 to 20 million years old, compared to our 4.5-billion-year-old Earth.
While this isn't the first direct image of an exoplanet taken from space — the Hubble Space Telescope has taken direct exoplanet images before — NASA says these new shots "point the way forward for Webb's exoplanet exploration".
"I think what's most exciting is that we've only just begun," said said Aarynn Carter, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who led the analysis of the images.
"There are many more images of exoplanets to come that will shape our overall understanding of their physics, chemistry, and formation. We may even discover previously unknown planets, too."
By Tom Williams
News while you snoozed
- Russian President Vladimir Putin has paid tribute to the late Mikhail Gorbachev by laying flowers next to his coffin in hospital, but will not attend the former Soviet leader's funeral. The decision is believed to reflect the Kremlin's ambivalence about Mr Gorbachev's legacy. The Russian government says Mr Gorbachev will not be given a state funeral, but will have "elements" of one, such as honorary guards
- French President Emmanuel Macron plans to visit Australian around November, one year on from the submarine spat with the Morrison government. France and Australia are working to repair diplomatic relations following the cancellation of a lucrative attack-class submarine project by the former government, with Mr Macron already meeting with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Paris back in July
By Tom Williams
Here's the news Australia is searching for
- Serena Williams. The tennis icon is back on court at the US Open today, where she'll play doubles with her sister Venus against the Czech pair of Linda Nosková and Lucie Hradecká (from around 9am AEST). Yesterday Serena beat Anett Kontaveit to set up a third round singles clash with Australia's Ajla Tomljanović
- Armie Hammer. People are searching for stories about the American actor, ahead of the release of a Discovery+ docuseries called House of Hammer which discusses allegations of sexual assault made against him, and an alleged history of abuse within his family. In March Hammer's lawyer called a rape allegation made against him "outrageous", and said all the actor's sexual relationships were "completely consensual"
- Titanic. New footage of the sunken ship is reportedly the first to be captured in 8K, giving anyone not able to dive down to the vessel the chance to witness it in some pretty stunnning detail. Here's the clip:
By Tom Williams
One more thing: There's controversy around an award-winning AI-generated artwork
An artwork created using artificial intelligence has taken first prize in an art competition, causing a bit of controversy in the process.
A man named Jason Allen entered the artwork in the Digital Arts / Digitally-Manipulated Photography category of the Colorado State Fair fine arts competition, after creating the piece using a text-to-image generator called Midjourney.
A viral Twitter post criticising Mr Allen's win has gone viral, with many users claiming he had been deceptive by submitting a piece created by a computer.
Mr Allen has defended his actions, telling The Pueblo Chieftain:
"I wanted to make a statement using artificial intelligence artwork.
"I feel like I accomplished that, and I'm not going to apologise for it."
The Colorado State Fair's competition guidelines state that Digital Arts is "artistic practice that uses digital technology as part of the creative or presentation process".
That sounds a lot like what Mr Allen did, but interesting questions remain about who exactly can be considered 'the artist' behind the piece.
(AND A WARNING: The below tweet includes language some readers may find offensive)
